Germany witnessed over 852,000 visitor overnights from India in 2017, reflecting a 13.8 per cent growth over 2016. “We expect five to eight per cent growth in 2018. Our goal is to reach one million overnights by 2020 and two million overnights by 2030. We are hopeful to achieve this,” Romit Theophilus, Director, German National Tourist Office (GNTO) – India, said.
He informed that Germany used to be mainly a business destination for India few years ago but gradually leisure has also picked up. “Germany is actually quite popular as a leisure destination also. Out of total Indian arrivals, 40 per cent is business, 20 per cent each for VFR and leisure respectively and student and others comprise of 20 per cent. For us, Germany has become a very captive destination for Indian student due to its quality of education and value. The average spend per person per trip in Germany is 2363 euro compared to the average for Indian outbound at 1900 euro. Germany is very affordable destination. Currently, India stand at number five source market in Asia for Germany,” he informed and added that Germany as a destination is number one in schengen and number two in Europe for India. “We are currently number two just behind Europe. Switzerland is right behind us,” he informed.
For 2018, Germany has selected ‘Culinary Germany – More to explore’ as its core global marketing theme. “Food forms an integral part of any travellers itinerary. With over 5,000 beers from 1,300 breweries, 300 types of bread, 1,500 types of sausage, 13 wine regions, 292 Michelin-starred restaurants and 3,000 to 5,000 Christmas markets Germany is sure to satiate any travellers appetite,” he said.
Elaborating more, he said that GNTO India office will organize various consumer engagement activities with influencers/bloggers, social media channels in the market in the coming months. “We will also be launching a game of matching German and Indian cuisines on facebook as well as cookery events,” he added. According to the Quality Monitor survey of the German tourism industry, four per cent of international holidaymakers come to Germany specifically for the variety and quality of its food and drink. “The sector, therefore, contributes at least 3.2 million overnight stays to Germany’s inbound tourism,” he informed.
Adding to its cherished status of being a favored leisure destination amongst Indians, the GNTO India Office now boasts of over one million followers on its Facebook platform. “We had envisioned that our Facebook page would be the hub for interactions and discussions on all things related to travel to Germany and we are happy to see the popularity of the page amongst Facebook enthusiasts. With engagement rates of 16 per cent on an average, the page has become the regular haunt for travelers looking at exploring new experiences,” Theophilus said.
On the marketing front, GNTO India Office spends 40 per cent of its marketing budget on B2B segment and remaining is earmarked for B2C.
